£12 million a year: The real cost of Harry and Meghan’s private security bill

0:02The Telegraph.

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1:09Your bra should be holding you in, not holding you back. Visit Aerie.com to find the right bra for you. That's A-E-R-I-E dot com.

1:21Harry and Meghan are firmly back on UK soil, but questions surrounding their security status are still up in the air. Welcome to this special edition of The Royalty, looking at the Sussexes' security with me, Camilla Tominey. And me, Victoria Ward. You'd probably need a protocol of a security team of around 10 to 12 men. Your costs would be in the range of£7 to£12 million a year. What? The school run is a very, you know, it's a pressurised route for security to look at. That run needs to be done, even before the children go to school in the morning, that run's got to be done before they go. What do you mean, wrecked?

1:55Yeah, you've got to do a wrecking and then the route has got to be changed every day. You can't do the same route every single day. Do you know, something's just dawned on me as you're saying that. This does explain why the children of so many royals and high net worth individuals bored. Vicky, before we speak to Paul Lewis, who is a Jack Reacher lookalike, who may have killed a man, we don't know, certainly would take a bullet for one of his clients and I think probably regularly speaks into cuffs. Without a doubt. In doubt, yes, exactly. Drives around in a big blacked out Range Rover. you get the scene.

2:24And we're going to discuss in general the Sussexes' security, what they're wanting, what they might get and how much it might cost. But a couple of updates to mention before we get to that interview, which is well worth watching because it's amazing to see how the security sausage is made, isn't it? So two extraordinary developments. Let's deal with the latest one first of all, which is that Harry and Meghan have had to move the children, Archie and Lilibet, from the school that they had originally enrolled them in following this move to Blighty. We believe they're in the Cotswolds. We're not going to be mentioning names of their address or the school or even much about the local area because we do not want to compromise their own safety.

3:03Of course we don't. But they've now taken the children out of this school and put them in another school. Yes, so the whole reason why they came in August, it was also last minute, they suddenly appeared in the UK, was because they suddenly got these places at this school. That's what they've always said, that they'd been on the waiting list and these places suddenly popped up. So it was the kind of catalyst for it all. They did two days last week, the normal beginning of term with all the other children. And it was such a disaster in terms of the daily commute. It was so awful and so unexpectedly bad that they've pulled them out and put them somewhere else already.

3:38Now, any mum or dad that's done the school run will say, well, listen, we could have told you this. The whole thing's a nightmare. Country lanes in the Cotswolds. I've got the same experience in Hertfordshire where basically taking the children down a single track lane to school, having to reverse into parking paces, stationary for hours on end while people try and reverse and it all goes horribly wrong. Listen, that's my own private Idaho. They should have known, surely, they should have wrecked these routes and known that they could be in stationary traffic for some time, which, of course, is where the risk is at.

4:09They don't want to be sitting ducks on this school run, right? So the security team did recce the routes in the summer holidays. They obviously only got the school places after the school had already broken up in the summer. Well, recceing in the holidays. So they're recceing in the holidays at the right time, but obviously you're not going to get the school traffic. No. But the problem is, the interesting thing is really with this particular school, the traffic is really notoriously bad. Like all the parents talk about it. some of the parents, somebody was saying to me today, some of the parents have started putting their children into two or three nightly boarding in a week just to avoid the awful traffic on the school.

4:45It's that bad. So it does seem astonishing that they didn't know about it. The school maybe hadn't warned them or other parents hadn't warned them. And with this particular school, one of the main problems was that there's a little lane that comes out of the school that you have to take to get in and out of the to get out of the grounds and it feeds into a really really busy main road and so one of the issues was that you could be sitting there for five minutes waiting to pull out onto this main road which was problematic in itself but then their convoy was getting split up because they couldn't stay together the security team got it followed behind okay so they've moved them somewhere closer to home so they don't have such a long way to go yes and apparently the mood in the camp with the security team and the family is much happier they're much calmer they recognize that this is the right one and it just feels better all around do they need to be telling us all of this well i don't think they were going to announce they weren't going to tell us about the school yeah i think one of the parents at the new school because they started on monday and harry and megan have already been added into these parents whatsapp groups oh my god i love megan on my parents that this has come out imagine megan on your whatsapp has anyone seen Archie's sweatshirt?

5:59Does anyone know if it's PE today? Yeah. Lilibet says I need to attend the PTA meeting. I'll bring cookies. She could bake cake. Lemon, lemon, what does she do? Olive, lemon, olive cake. Just the sheer joy of it. Or like you turn up at some kind of parental quiz night. And she's there on a table with her pen and a pencil. Oh my God, I'm good on Netflix shows in modern culture. I've got some legal training. Wonderful. So there's that. Although the other observation that's been made is why is there always such drama around the Sussexes? Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Kate and William been doing a school run for years now with no problems whatsoever?

6:40No problems, I know. It does seem to follow them. It feels like they can't quite do anything without a massive circus and drama and problems, doesn't it? And another of your scoops this week has been the revelation that Megan will now have a risk assessment carried out by Ravec, the committee that belongs to the Home Office that assesses VIPs and royals for whether they merit taxpayer-funded security. Yes. So she's never had one since she was a working royal. So we don't think, certainly not since 2019. Harry had one in July. It's a thing he'd been fighting for for years and years through the courts to get this risk assessment that could then declare what kind of threat level he's at.

7:16That's what he wanted. He had one in July, but it was when they were still living in the States and hadn't told anybody that they were moving back. So Ravec met last week and they've agreed that they need to have a new risk assessment. Now the circumstances have completely changed for the whole family. So it's Megan and Harry and they want to know all about the daily routines, the school runs, the timings, the A to B, where they socialise. They want to know everything about their pattern of life. So they've got the full picture so they can then make a proper decision, an informed decision about whether they need police protection.

7:46OK, so let's get into the nuts and bolts of it all now, because we don't know what a security operation looking after Harry, Meghan and the children would actually look like. But we know a man who does. So coming up next, we're going to be speaking to Paul Lewis, who noses onions when it comes to how to protect rich, important people. Paul, welcome. Give us some of your background. What do you actually do and why do you do it? We've been in this industry for just over 10 years now, but primarily a lot of my expertise comes from my father, who was Royal Protection some 25 years ago, when it wasn't Ravec that was in charge of it.

8:24It was more Scotland Yard at that particular point in time. Who did he look after, Paul? He looked after Prince Philip. So he sort of guided me down the private investigation route, which is something we've got a vast amount of experience in. and from the private investigation industry, we was questioned about looking after high-profile individuals for security aspect. And how difficult is that task? It really depends on the person you're looking after, the political risks, whether a high-profile individual, what their current circumstances are, what the social media risks are around that particular individual, given the circumstance of how things are moving in these current times, really.

9:12Just out of interest, then, we're talking about Harry and Meghan specifically today. I know you've got no specific experience of them. But with a couple like that, do you think, with your expertise, that a private security team could effectively manage their security? Or do you agree with them that they should have police protection? I think that given the circumstances of who they are, they would need police protection really because police protection can carry guns and protect them at a different level, whereas private protection can't carry guns in this country. So, you know, given the circumstances, the threat levels, I think it's important that they would have police protection.

9:51I mean, out of interest, without guns, what do you have to resort to in order to protect a high net worth individual? More men. More men. More men, a lot more men. But is this literally, Paul, about, you know, you're surrounding somebody who is worth something. Maybe there's a kidnap risk. Maybe they are politically controversial and somebody might be out to get them. Just tell us a little bit without too much revelation that could lead to compromising some of the security of your clients. How do you actually manage that situation? How big is the operation? How much does it cost? And presumably all of your guys are trained in arm-to-hand, what do you call it, hand-to-hand combat?

10:32Coast protection, hand-to-hand combat, yeah. I think that you'd probably need a protocol of a security team of around 10 to 12 men. I think for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, your costs would be in the range of 7 to 12 million pounds a year. What? Yeah, for private security. Why is it that? That's extraordinary. Because you'd need to have people on the estate, people marking out routes that they're attending, the children going to school. I mean there's a vast amount of detail that goes into any security process but given the circumstances of the you know the way that they left the UK and what's currently going on today is I think that they're at high risk.

11:16Vicky do we think that they're spending that already on their private security? I don't know how much they're spending but it is millions we know it is millions and the estimate put on them having police protection here has been is around five million a year. It may be a bit higher. Now, Harry doesn't dispute that. But I think what his argument is, 5 million is a drop in the ocean of the wider budget. And I don't know whether that's true, but it's estimated, it's believed, I don't know whether this is true, but the royalty protection budget is around 300 million a year. So Harry's argument is 5 million a year is a drop in the ocean and they can afford it.

11:54Why would it cost less for the police to protect them than it would private individuals? I think the police have got better resources. Yes. Which obviously private protection just doesn't have the level of resources that they've got, you know, to provide helicopters and route mapping every single day. And, you know, you'd need people monitoring social intelligence, political risk intelligence. I think that, you know, police have got divisions that can accommodate them circumstances on a day by day basis. But if you had, you know, when you use private security companies. They just don't have that level of staff to assist through the course of that process.

12:32So say if it was seven to 12 million, the other obvious conclusion to leap to is the other reason they want the police to protect them rather than to pay for it is because it's really bloody expensive. I don't think there's a dispute about that or that they don't make it the plank of their public argument. Harry has acknowledged that it would cost millions to protect his family. He knows that. He even offered to pay for the police bodyguards, right? And then they said, well, we can't do that because then that sets a precedent that anybody who thinks that they might be at risk is going to ask for the police is not for sale quite.

13:09So, I mean, that's blown my mind a bit. I knew they were paying a lot, but I thought it was something in the region of about, you know, 200 grand a month, which I suppose does add up to. So that does add up to a lot of money, but certainly not nearly 12 million. So Harry and Meghan have two full-time private protection officers, and they are Chris Sanchez and David Langsdale, known as Langers, who's been with Harry since his days in the UK back in the royal family. So I suppose that's a little bit different to the 7 to 12 people that you're talking about. But now they're back here, we know that one of their biggest concerns is the school run.

13:42The school runs are very, you know, that's a particularly pressurised route for security to look at. That run needs to be done even before the children go to school in the morning. That run's got to be done before they go. What do you mean, wreckied? Yeah, you've got to do a wrecking scan. Every day? No, and then the route has got to be changed every day. You can't do the same route every single day when you're taking high-profile people, people's children to a school. you know if there was if they was going to become a target at that particular point in time it'd be easy to get access to them so obviously you know officers that are in charge of these routes need to change them on a day-by-day basis do you know something's just dawned on me as you're saying that this does explain why i know it could be a cultural thing but why the children of so many royals and high net worth individuals bored genuinely yes it's because the school runs quite difficult and also you've then got to factor into that extracurricular activities somebody's got a football match here we all any parent knows what it's like to have kids and we're doing it completely you know without anybody really caring what we're up to

14:52hey guys it's mary from two judgy girls this episode is sponsored by airy if you're counting down the minutes until you take your bra off when you get home it's probably the wrong bra or if the straps are digging into your shoulder or you're constantly adjusting throughout the day it's definitely time to get a better fit. That's why we love Aerie. Their bras are designed to be the essential effortless first layer with soft fabrics, great fits, and up to 59 sizes so you can find the one that's right for you. Your bra should be holding you in, not holding you back. Visit Aerie.com to find the right bra for you.

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16:38Paul has the kind of dynamics of all this changed you mentioned social media earlier which really interests me has this job become much more complicated because of the digital sphere it has yeah because people are posting online all the time you know if they're posting particular locations of where that where they're going to be or where they're going and that's going out on social media obviously obviously these places have got to be a game record before they attend these events and these um you know if they're going to a particular place restaurant the children are going somewhere these places need to be checked thoroughly before they attend the events also it's punters isn't it oh i've just seen them here you know if they're at an event and someone just takes photographs the next thing people can get to that place converges yeah yeah um what else do you do in this sphere so you're looking after people and and what does that look that like you're saying it's around the clock so you and your guys you're there day and night are you speaking into cuffs what are you doing how does it protect their property you need um systems for ampr you need to monitor their automatic number plate recognition as they're coming into their estate if they live in an estate um you need to understand the threat levels of the people that are attending where they're going where they're meeting um when the children are coming and going who's accessing the property whether there's any devices that have been put in the vehicles or that are attending the property so there's a vast amount of work to be done which is behind the scenes that people normal people wouldn't really understand and are you having to sleep in the house well you'd have you'd have men around the clock at the actual estate itself yeah and then on their holidays anywhere they go bulletproof vehicles you need you know you need specialist armoured equipment.

18:25Normally you would have that at a royal level, but your normal CEO might have bulletproof vehicles and stuff like that, but not obviously armed police. I mean, the personnel involved in this, and I remember this when I used to cover the royals, because you've got to have shifts. Some people are there, they're on, they're there all night, so they can't really go home. Then they're off for seven days, and then somebody else is brought in. Is that what it looks like, Paul? Yes, basically. And how do you recruit? Is it guys and gals, or just guys? Yeah, guys and girls, yeah. Yeah, or gals, as you like to put it.

18:53Gals. Where do you get them from? Who are these people? A lot of them are ex-SAS, ex-military. Some police protection work for us currently. It's just people with a vast amount of experience and understanding what the risk analysis is to look after these individuals that are high-profile people. Do you think it's important that they have a rapport with the principal, the person they're protecting, so they get to know, because Harry and William have spoken, Harry has spoken about how he got to know his person when they were kids. They knew them really well. They're like father figures. Well, also, when they were out on the lash, they used to put them into bed drunk.

19:24They were always going to be there looking after them, yeah. But they're with, I mean, there's no great privacy, is there? They're with these people all the time. Yeah, all the time, 24 hours a day. And it's that important. They've obviously got to get on, haven't they? Yeah, they've got to get on. I don't think that it's important for every single, you know, close protection officer or security member to have a direct relationship with them. There's got to be a chain of command. But I certainly think that the two main security officers that are in charge of, you know, Prince Harry and Meghan and the children, have got to have a close relationship with these people.

19:56They've got to understand what their movements are on a day-to-day basis, where they're going, what their thought processes are, and that way they can assess the risk according to what their movements currently are. But what about the risks to you guys? I mean, do you go into this saying, I will take a bullet for my client? Yes. How does that feel? it's um yeah i mean well this is what the guys are paid to do this is the job that they signed up for have you ever been injured in the line of duty personally no but i have some of my staff members that have had issues looking after you know very well-known ceos and there has been things who have been targeted when they've been targeted yeah yeah wow and do you have to kind of carry on having training it's all very well having learned things in the sas but that could be several years ago like how do you keep up to speed clearly you have to be physically fit i can see you paul slightly channeling you're in a jack reacher i don't know if anyone else has noticed it yeah i've heard that before but have you bench pressing yeah yeah just that kind of stuff i'm just saying yeah keeping in shape on a day-to-day basis is uh quite important i mean you have to wrestle people to the ground you have to be fit yeah but you know he's gone red now you're making Can we go red?

21:11I don't know why. You are in red. Yeah, just having an understanding of looking after yourself and being physically fit and in shape and mentally on point to look after these individuals is part of the job, the task that you're acquired to do it, really. And where does the biggest threat come from these days? You mentioned your father working with Prince Philip, and at the time I would imagine the biggest threat came from the IRA, not least after Mountbatten was assassinated. We've gone through that period, haven't we, of being worried about Al-Qaeda and other attacks on UK soil? I mentioned earlier lone and fixated individuals, and of course the other consequence of social media is people stalking high-profile individuals and finding out more information about them.

22:00Just give us the lay of the land these days with who you're most worried about. I think you're most worried about now the person that's not mentally stable, the single person on their own, because you don't really know when they're going to act. It's all very well having intelligence coming through from different countries. But normally a high-profile risk is the single male or female that's carrying a gun or a knife, and no one's ever heard of them before. These are a lot of the people that carry out the axe now. I mean, the grass, the green grass of England is not so green anymore given the circumstances of the risk element and the people that are actually in this country at this point in time that's definitely harry and megan's biggest fear yeah this these fixated individuals and with the public narrative so against them on social media and all these mad people on social media fueling yeah this kind of really toxic narrative against them that just that's a it's a big thing isn't it well also let's look at what happened very recently to ann widdekombe mindful that proceedings are active in that case um i mean that would put the frightens on anybody in public life.

23:05Yeah. It's a very different place out there now. I mean, the security that we control at the moment, everyone is basically wanting security at their estates now, whether they're a royal family or whether they're just normal people. Oh, so you've had more inquiries coming in in recent years? Yeah, we've got a lot of inquiries coming on a day-to-day basis. People want close protection. They're worried about their valuables, their properties, their vehicles, their children. It's a very different world that we live in now. Is kidnapping still a risk and a threat? I mean, I say you hear less about it these days.

23:41I'm thinking about sort of Getty and I'm thinking about other high profile cases. But we say that over the last 20 months, I've brought four children back to their families in the private investigation industry is what predominantly we focus on. We've had four child cases over the last 20 months. One of them was in Vietnam, which is already in the press, the Oliver Pugh case. I'm the guy that found Oliver Pugh, the child, the three-year-old boy in Vietnam. I've recently just got back from that task. Remind us who he was snatched by. He went missing from Spain and we located him to Vietnam. And who took him?

24:22A particular individual took him. And due to the current Interpol circumstances, they're struggling to get him back from Vietnam at the moment. But somebody unrelated to the child? Yes. For money, for a ransom? Yes, for ransom. That was one of the cases that I've dealt with over the last 20 months. And the other three, were they ransom cases? No, they were ransom. Were they? Because I thought you were going to say, oh, sometimes a father will take a child or a mother will take a child. So these are ransom cases? Yes, financial. Wow. It does happen, yeah. Finally, Paul, what else do you get up to in your private investigator work?

24:54Gosh, this afternoon I've got a hell of a mission. I'm to start in France with a gentleman that's run off with$11 million for an investment. So I head out there this afternoon to locate that individual, negotiate with him to get the money back. And we go from there. My God, I'm not sure if I want to be this guy who's going away$11 million to open the door to Paul. No. I'm not sure I want to do the job. What do you wear? What will you be wearing? No, I'll be going in these clothes today. Oh, okay. What powers of persuasion will you use, Paul, on this man? We'll just negotiate against the evidence that we've got.

25:25We collect the evidence that we've collected from the digital forensic team. We understand that the subject this afternoon has taken the money. We categorically know that. And then we'll negotiate to get the money back, or we'll put the paperwork together for the police to get a resolution through the Crown. Does it get quite physical? Would you expect it to be... We hope not this afternoon. Can it, though? It could do. I reckon that, yeah. But, you know, at the end of the day, we're not paid for violence. We're paid to get a resolution. And that's, you know, that's the best foot forward, really.

25:53I wouldn't argue with you. I've got to be honest. I don't want to argue with you two. I think this is the most nerve-wracking interview I've ever done. I love this. Paul is dealing with absolute wrong-ins day in, day out, and he's finding an interview on the Daily Tee intimidating. I'm absolutely horrified. Paul, thank you for your insights. It's fascinating. I mean, the£7 to£12 million figure does put things into perspective somewhat and will be continuing to follow the developments in the case of Harry and Meghan Security. Paul Lewis, thank you very much indeed. Thank you so much. Good luck in France.

26:23appreciate your comments Vicky we'll be back with more royalties in due course thank you very much

26:53Hey guys, it's Mary from Two Judgy Girls. This episode is sponsored by Aerie. If you're counting down the minutes until you take your bra off when you get home, it's probably the wrong bra. Or if the straps are digging into your shoulder or you're constantly adjusting throughout the day, it's definitely time to get a better fit. That's why we love Aerie. Their bras are designed to be the essential, effortless first layer with soft fabrics, great fits, and up to 59 sizes. So you can find the one that's right for you. Your bra should be holding you in, not holding you back. Visit Aerie.com to find the right bra for you.

27:30That's A-E-R-I-E dot com. Who says Halloween only lasts one day? With Wayfair, one night of Halloween becomes a whole season at home. From larger-than-life yard decor and moody lighting to festive accents for every room in the house, Wayfair has what you need to make Halloween feel like magic all in one place. because the best Halloween memories aren't made in just one night. They're made all season long. Shop Halloween decor now at Wayfair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home.